Chapter 150 – Class D will never thank Horikita

At the previously noisy Area 3, silence fell abruptly. The various sounds of accusations, spectating, teasing, and quarreling ceased with Sudo's self-destructive roar, leaving the area quiet.

Sudo, no longer interested in addressing anything else, let his complex emotions of anger and shame drive him as he ran out headlong without considering the consequences. Given his physical abilities, it was likely that no one from Class D could catch up to him. It seemed his decision to voluntarily apply for withdrawal was now firmly sealed and irreversible.

As Sudo's figure disappeared into the distance at the edge of the sports field, a few students from Class D still held complaints against him.

Breaking the silence at Area 3, they cursed, "Really! It was all Sudo's fault to begin with! What is he doing?! In the end, he just ran away!"

"Yeah! Why did we let him run away? He still owes us so much in private points!"

"Right! All those private points, just gone like that?"

These comments stirred up many Class D students, reminding them of the points they had pooled together during the midterm exams last semester, which had nearly drained their resources. Although they had received a slight replenishment of a hundred class points from the school as a reward for passing the midterms in June, they lost twenty points over the summer due to Yukio's class, resulting in significantly lower private points each month.

Now, with Sudo's departure, their previously pooled points seemed wasted.

Horikita, who had been worried about how to prevent Sudo's withdrawal, suddenly saw a potential solution. Everyone was focused on their personal interests, and leveraging this might actually prevent Sudo from withdrawing.

In Horikita's view, Class D had too few talented individuals. Sudo, a student strong in sports, needed to be retained as a crucial asset for advancing to Class A. As for Sudo's character issues, Horikita wasn't concerned.

Confident in handling any physical confrontations and vigilant enough to avoid being caught in any secretive filming, Horikita recognized the indispensable role of a physically gifted student like Sudo, especially with two more years of sports festivals ahead.

'With a student like Sudo, Class D could at least have an advantage in the sports festival! So yes, he must stay!'

As the discussions among everyone heated up, Horikita seized the moment and stood up to encourage them: "Everyone, let's go and stop Sudo. He must be on his way to submit his voluntary withdrawal form to Chabashira-sensei."

"But we can't just let it go; he owes us all private points. We should get them back. Sudo is somewhat childish and cares about his reputation. If we confront him about his debts, he will surely stay."

However, Horikita's plan, though sound and likely successful—who could refuse to reclaim what was rightfully theirs—had its shortcomings. She overlooked the current state of the students in Class D.

Didn't the students of Class D understand Sudo's importance to the sports festival? They did, yet they drove him away. Why?

Was it because they were sinister? No, it was simply because, in their view, personal safety was more important than class benefit.

A person like Sudo, who not only hit girls but also engaged in voyeurism—either accusation alone was a deal-breaker for the girls in the class, let alone both.

Today, Karuizawa managed to dodge his punch with her quick reflexes. What if one day Sudo turned on them? Would they have to dodge as well?

The last incident of voyeurism was stopped by Yukio from another class, but what about next time? Could Yukio always be there to stop it? How dreadful would it be if they were unknowingly filmed?

Thinking of these two possibilities—either being punched in the face or being secretly filmed by boys—brings fear and disgust, overwhelming their minds and ensuring that, no matter what Horikita proposed, the girls in Class D would never agree.

Horikita herself had the ability to deal with Sudo, thinking at most his character was flawed, and he could stay. The other girls didn't have that capability; they just wanted this scoundrel gone.

Compared to the potential benefit Sudo could bring to the class, they valued their personal safety far more.

Class points? They could always use the school's free meals; they were already accustomed to it. But a breach of personal safety was utterly unacceptable.

With such a mindset, when Horikita made her proposal, it was immediately rejected by Sato, who was among those supporting Karuizawa: "Impossible! Someone like Sudo absolutely cannot stay in our class!"

On the other side, Shinohara pointed directly at Horikita: "How can you even think of defending Sudo, Horikita-san? Such a horrible person, if it weren't for you, he would have been gone long ago!"

"It's still because of your clever words that we got carried away and decided to use our remaining points to help Sudo! But now Sudo has run away! Shouldn't you be responsible for him?"

Hearing this, the others seemed to agree, thinking that Horikita was indeed the root cause of all troubles! Now that Sudo has slipped away, isn't Horikita the only one left?

Shouldn't Horikita be the one to make up for the money Sudo hasn't returned?

Even though there was no logic to it, and the two things were not necessarily connected, the students of Class D clung to this idea, thinking to themselves that they couldn't let Horikita escape too. If Horikita ran away, then there would truly be no one left to pay back the money.

Speaking out of self-interest, someone said, "Sudo still owes me three thousand points, Horikita-san, you need to pay this debt!"

"I have five thousand five hundred on my side."

"I had put out nearly ten thousand private points before, you definitely can't default on this!"

Similar statements kept emerging, as if everyone in that moment wanted to settle the matter once and for all, insisting that Horikita help Sudo repay the debts.

At that time, Kushida, who had contributed a lot of money, could only stick to her angelic role, not mentioning the debts at all, but instead showing a worried expression.

In reality, Kushida was almost laughing her head off inside, wishing she could run to a deserted place and cackle wildly, as only that could truly release the exhilarating emotions she felt at the moment.

Horikita, you finally got what was coming to you! How satisfying! Why aren't you acting all superior now? Why not continue with that cold face, keeping everyone at arm's length?

If Kushida were to say it, she was almost insanely happy. On Horikita's side, it felt like drawing a sword and looking around bewilderedly.

Horikita was shocked by her classmates' behavior to the point of trembling eyeballs and tingling fingertips, full of confusion. At that moment, all she could think was that these people, this Class D, were beyond help.

Could such a class really have any hope of moving up to Class A?

Yukio silently watched from the side, not adding fuel to the fire, but merely observing, because this scene reminded him of a sci-fi novel he had read in his previous life.

It was a science fiction work about a man who, with a fierce strategy of mutual destruction, confronted an alien civilization for sixty-two years to protect human civilization from enslavement.

Humans thought the man was a madman. How could he think of a tactic like mutual destruction? What if one day he went mad and pressed the switch, making everyone pay for his decision? How could that be acceptable?

So, sixty years after peace was established, they captured and imprisoned the man. A line from the novel made Yukio feel it somewhat matched the current situation: "Humanity will never thank Luo Ji."

With a bit of forced adaptation, it could be changed to "Class D will never thank Horikita. Again."

***

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